First, I'd like to thank all who took the time to share input on this topic. Some really helped. I'd like to start by saying the worst place to call "CQ DX" expecting DX to call you is on BPSK31. over 90% of the time a U.S.A. station answers. I have also discovered something important. If I call "CQ DX" and I don't want anyone from the U.S.A. or Canada to answer, I had better Call "CQ DX Outside North America, Including Canada" right away. When I just call "CQ DX" and am answered by U.S.A operators or Canadians and I switch my message to include "outside North America and Canada". WOW!!!! people get so vicious with responses...Lid, eliteist, scum, etc...

Also, I do operate CW, alot. I have to say, when I call "CQ DX" on CW, U.S.A. and Canadians call me less than 10% of the time.

"I'd like to start by saying the worst place to call "CQ DX" expecting DX to call you is on BPSK31."

Does that surprise you?

PSK31 ops seem to insist that you only ever need to run 20-30W to make contacts, so there's not a whole lot of long haul DX :-)

Just kidding... I've worked ZL's and UA0's on PSK. But really, it's a very popular mode especially among very limited stations who are running low power into attic dipoles and stuff. I kind of like ragchewing on PSK31 but DXing there tends to be boring compared to what's on SSB or CW.

Why don't I hear 589 PSK31 signals out of ZL and JA at the same times there are 58 SSB signals out of ZL and JA several places on the phone band?

Maybe it's because they try to get on PSK31 with 300W and a big beam on a tall tower and get chased off the air by stations with excellent propagation to those places for "running too much power"

PSK31 ops have largely slaved themselves to low dynamic range systems because of the vast popularity of panoramic tuning. Yeah, when a guy fires up in W5 running a modest few hundred watts to a high tribander, he pumps my AGC so hard I can't copy the weak UA0 anymore.

What I do is click in the 300Hz IF filter and tune the UA0 back in and I don't even notice the W5. But the guy trying to hear the UA0 while decoding the W5 in his other window is just getting steaming mad at the W5 for having a good, strong signal.

The hams who attack you when you call CQ DX probably aren't folks you'd want to chat with anyway. Personally, I think it's rude (or just plain ignorant) for stateside stations to call me when I'm obviously trying to take advantage of a brief band opening to some far distant location, especially when the current sunspot conditions don't necessarily make that an every day event. Some pretend that they're just being sociable, but that's kind of like insisting on chatting with the guy next to you in the middle of a movie.

I agree that the situation happens far less on CW, but I don't really know why. Maybe there are simply a higher percentage of casual ops on SSB -- they certainly can't say that they don't understand the words.

The ARRL SSB DX contest was horrible this year for that. Some large contest stations claimed that over 20% of their callers were stateside zero-pointers. I found I had to call "CQ DX Europe" or "CQ DX Japan" to cut it down, and I'd still sometimes have a small pileup of stateside callers covering up any DX that might be there.

I worked the CQWW CW all band and was forced to call stateside big guns to pick up zones on 160 and 15 meters where I had few contacts. With my 43' vertical and 100 watts, snagging a West Coast zone 3 was no easy task on 160.

I'm guessing the bulk of that 20% was on 160, 15 and 10. That's just the way the CQWW rules work and it seems the big guns are very willing to hand out zone Qs on fringe bands. On core bands, VE7s provide ample Zone 3 Qs.

I *would* stop short of calling a needed USA mult if he had a good DX run going.

Certainly. The large contest stations pretty much accept the fact that they will be prime targets for stateside stations who need the zone multiplier in CQWW. It's always preferable for a stateside station to pick a time to do that when the running station isn't so busy, but as you say sometimes you have to get them while propagation or your operating plan allows.

WA7NB wasn't referring to contesting, though, and I wasn't referring to CQWW. The point is that lots of stateside stations will call you anyway even when it is clear that you are, for whatever reason, trying to work only DX. In the ARRL DX SSB contest that I referred to, there is no multiplier or points for stateside working stateside, and those who insist on calling you anyway are in essence deciding that their desires trump yours. That makes them either clueless or rude.

The same holds outside of a contest when I'm trying to catch a brief DX opening to, for example, central Asia on 20m at dusk and somebody in Michigan comes back to "just say hi". They could simply call CQ themselves, of course, but that would allow everyone on the other end to decide whether to talk with them or not. By calling me instead, they've got me cornered at least for a moment unless I decide to be "elitist" and tell them to go away.

--No question that CQ DX ***once*** meant CQ DX. There was always a gray area. Did it mean Canada? Did it include a cruise ship in NY Harbor (I once heard a ham on a cruise in NY harbor running U.S. stations in the 75 meter DX window for hours).

But it never meant two states away on HF, and that's a lot of what I get.

I'm utterly puzzled about their motivations. I guess it would be rude to demand, "what the heck is going on in your brain?" How do they board airport flights if they can't understand simple public address instructions?

Perhaps it's because CBers consider any Q not groundwave to be "DX." I wouldn't know, but I prefer to think the hobby isn't <<<YET>>> being ravaged by Alzheimers!

We need to grab a few of these callers and perform some cerebral autopsies on them.

Hopefully not, but it is rarely youngsters who reply when I'm calling CQ DX. It's usually older voices, so it would be faulty to lay the blame merely on inexperienced operators. Of course, that could simply be due to statistics ... our hobby is comprised mostly of older hams now, at least on the HF bands. Check out the various pictures online from conventions, contest stations, and even DXpeditions. Compare to similar pictures from 25 years ago and the difference is striking.

K0OD SAID"I'm utterly puzzled about their motivations. I guess it would be rude to demand, "what the heck is going on in your brain?" How do they board airport flights if they can't understand simple public address instructions?

Perhaps it's because CBers consider any Q not groundwave to be "DX." I wouldn't know, but I prefer to think the hobby isn't <<<YET>>> being ravaged by Alzheimers!

We need to grab a few of these callers and perform some cerebral autopsies on them. "

Perhaps you sir need to go back and learn a little something about propagation and how it acts at certain frequencies before cutting on someone else!

"No, you need not say more. You are as clueless as the guy you quoted!!!"

Don't just bash and run!

O Clueful One, please shed your wisdom as to why CQ DX is often answered by stations 2 states over. Did you notice that I used the word "perhaps" in tendering a possible explanation. I was never a CBer.

I think my CB explanation is the most charitable one for the offenders. Otherwise I'm back to considering cognition morbidity as the likely basis.

I do not bash and run! If you will read my statement regarding propagation and what you said about cb'ers MAYBE you will realize what I am talking about! If you can't figure it out, just google groundwave and troposcatter propagation! I totally agree that someone calling "cq dx" should not be answered by a stateside operator if the calling station is stateside also!

You must be the one who is clueless if you think Groundwave works on 11 meters!!! If a person had to have a callsign to use this board then all the SWLs and other non licensed hams would not be able to use the forums!Think about what you are saying, it is rediculous!!!

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